Sister Shoutout

If you’re lucky, there are people in your world who you can look up to and who love you unconditionally. For me, one of those is my oldest sister, Fran. Above is a photo of the two of us in 1962 on Halloween. Being three and a half years older than me, she was considerably taller than me back then; now we’re the same height. But I still look up to her! She continues to inspire me and make me think; I just with we lived closer so we could spend more time together.

Fran at her eighth-grade graduation in 1963.

Fran in 1954.

As the oldest of four kids, Fran was undeniably the leader of our pack as we grew up in Chicago. My mom didn’t know how to drive, so we walked, rode our bikes, or took the bus and/or train everywhere. When we would walk the three miles to the public library, Fran decided we were like an army, and she was our colonel. She dubbed us “Colonel McNutt and his screwball army.” Oh, the adventures that unit had! It’s one of my fondest childhood memories.

The four of us in 1958 (I'm second from the right).

Even though Fran and I are only three and a half years apart, our kids are exactly 20 years apart—she married young, and I was older when I finally got hitched. This is going to be a big year for my big sis: She turned 59 over the weekend, she’s about to become a first-time grandmother in a week or so, and her older daughter is getting married in July. So, happy birthday, Colonel McNutt! I hope your 59th year is your best year ever!!

And another shoutout to my baby brother, Art, who scanned these photos from my father’s slide collection. Thanks, little bro!

Get ’er dones

I actually enjoyed a productive weekend! It probably helped that the Mister and our #2 son traveled to a disc golf doubles tournament and were gone both days. The Scout CDs have been burned and delivered, my track photos have been uploaded to Smugmug, the family room clutter chair finally is empty (although I do need to work on what I’ve kept). I even got rid of some extra music CDs to a high schooler collecting for the troops.

Today I have a dental checkup, I need to find the Photoshop Elements install disc and reinstall it on the boys’ iMac, and I need to do a Time Machine backup on my MacBook (I only need to back it up monthly). Just enough to keep me out of trouble!